When Spinoza described his dream of a black, scabby Brazilian, was the image indicative of a larger pattern of racial discrimination? Should todays readers regard racist comments and theories in the texts of 17th- and 18th-century philosophers as reflecting the prejudices of their time or as symptomatic of philosophical discourse? This article discusses whether a critical discussion of race is itself a form of racism and whether supposedly minor prejudices are evidence of a deeper social pathology. Given historical hindsight, we may read such discussion of race in early modern philosophy as a sign of the incipient struggle against prejudice, a sign that we can recognize and use in the struggles of our own time. Key Words: colonialism  the concept of haunting  essentialism  David Hume  Immanuel Kant  racism  Benedict Spinoza.